Although I've never been there, I know that the UAE, while far from perfect, is, let's face it, one of the best places a TESOL teacher can work. By "industry standards" the salary and holidays are excellent, workload relatively light, and you don't have to deal with split shifts, unpaid travel time and all that other nonsense which is par for the course in much of the EFL industry.

So, my question is: why are there so many jobs in the UAE? After all, the population of Emiratis is only a few hundred thousands, and as far as I know, only natives can enroll in most of the institutions where EFL teachers work. Therefore, surely the number of available jobs in higher education must be quite small?

However, every year there are loads of ads looking for teachers to work in the UAE. I would have thought that turnover would be quite low and available jobs few.

The population is rather small, though as I recall the number of Emiratis is probably approaching a million and more than half of that population is under 25. UAEU, ZU and HCT are restricted to locals and are having a difficult time fitting in the large number of students that are reaching university age. Not to mention that ZU and HCT require a relatively high school leaving grade. They are still playing a catch up game to grow at affordable levels (any budget crunch seems to target education like everywhere in the world) and matching staffing and facilities to student numbers every year is always a challenge.

Most, if not all, of the new tuition paying private colleges are taking most anyone with the cash. There is a large expat population, many of whom have children of college age. It has been a boon for many of the Arab and sub-continental expats to be able to educate their children while they live at home. This provides an interesting mix of students in places like AUS.

So, it seems to me that the annual supply of jobs is due more to expansion than attrition. Although expat teachers are a nomadic crowd who are always looking for something better over the next sand dune.